Road crash victims and their lawyers have been complaining for years about the RAF, until parliament stepped in. Now the recommendations must be implemented.
Now that the unlawful RAF board notice has been exposed in parliament, a body that protects the victims of road accidents is calling for the minister of transport to act.
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has confirmed that the Road Accident Fund (RAF), the very institution meant to protect the country’s road-crash victims, has for years been operating outside the law, with the full knowledge of the people charged with oversight.
For more than a decade, the Association for the Protection of Road Accident Victims (APRAV) fought to expose this growing dysfunction at the RAF, Ngoako Mohlaloga, deputy chair of APRAV, says.
“Through sustained advocacy and public awareness campaigns, APRAV repeatedly warned that unlawful practices and ministerial inaction would collapse the RAF and devastate the lives of victims. That warning has now been vindicated and South Africa stands at a crossroads.
“The Scopa inquiry laid bare the unlawful decisions, false accounting and policy overreach that crippled the RAF and South Africans deserve to see justice, not spin, follow.”
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How RAF violated law and court orders
Mohlaloga says over weeks of hearings, Scopa heard damning testimony confirming that the RAF’s leadership, with the knowledge of the minister of transport, violated both law and court orders with:
- Unlawful accounting practices: The RAF’s unilateral switch to the IPSAS 42 accounting standard and the implementation of Board Notice 271 of 2022 were both illegal. These measures were used to disguise the Fund’s liabilities and to suppress claim processing, giving a false impression of solvency.
- Manipulated liabilities: By classifying valid claims as “unregistered” or “non-compliant,” the RAF removed tens of thousands of legitimate claims from its books.
- Ministerial awareness: Witnesses, including Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Insurance Fund (LPIIF) general manager Thomas Harban, testified that the minister of transport is fully aware of the unlawful system but continues to allow it to operate.
- Parliamentary rebuke: Scopa chair Songezo Zibi and MP Patrick Atkinson both highlighted that the ministry has, by omission or approval, allowed illegality to persist, despite repeated court rulings setting aside the very framework the RAF relies on.
In plain terms, Mohlaloga says, the RAF has rewritten the law to suit itself and the Ministry has stood by while all this happened.
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Human cost is great for families when RAF does not pay
The human cost is off course great. Mohlaloga says behind every “non-compliant claim” lies a family in crisis, victims denied rehabilitation.
IW Charakupa, former head of the RAF’s actuarial services, testified that the RAF’s unlawful reforms had devastating effects on the administration and finalisation of claims with a 65% drop in new claims registered and a 58% decline in finalised matters between 2020 and 2024. This was the result of a cunning strategy to support their unlawful accounting standard, Mohlaloga says.
“These numbers are not accounting anomalies but evidence of a humanitarian and fiscal crisis where lives are placed in limbo by a Fund that has forgotten its mandate.”
He points out that testimony before Scopa confirmed beyond doubt that Board Notice 271 of 2022 was set aside by the courts and has no legal standing. “Yet, the RAF continues to reject claims under the same unlawful provisions, openly defying the judiciary.”
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No lawful basis for RAF’s notice and claim form regime
The LPIIF made it clear that there is no lawful basis for the continued use of the notice or its related claim-form regime. The RAF’s actions are unlawful and represent clear departure from the law and undermine the very victims it is meant to protect, Mohlaloga says.
“This is the RAF’s moment of truth and a defining test of leadership within the ministry of transport. APRAV calls on Minister Barbra Creecy to withdraw the unlawful board notice and restore the Fund to lawful compliance with the RAF Act. The minister can no longer plead ignorance on this matter, as her ignorance can be seen as being complicit in the unlawful regime.”
He points out that victims of road crashes who were denied justice under an illegal board notice deserve a public forum where the minister can explain how the Fund will restore the law and how victims’ rights will be protected, subject to her oversight, to ensure that this travesty never happens again.
“Reform cannot begin while unlawful policies remain in force, nor can trust be rebuilt without full transparency.”
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What must happen now?
What is the way forward? Mohlaloga says APRAV supports the interventions proposed during the Scopa hearings, including those by Thomas Harban from the LPIIF. These steps must now be taken without delay:
- Withdrawing the unlawful board notice.
- Returning to the 2008 RAF Act and original claims procedures.
- Re-registering all unlawfully rejected claims and allocating “link numbers” to ensure payment.
“Accountability is not about blame, but about participation. South Africans deserve answers in public, not reassurances in private.
“APRAV has been the voice of road crash victims, calling for the restoration of the RAF’s integrity. It is for this exact reason that the organisation is in full support of the Scopa Inquiry. But none of this progress means anything unless real reform follows.
“The unlawful system remains intact. Victims remain unpaid. APRAV will continue to act as the guardian of road crash victims, ensuring that justice is restored and that the RAF once again serves and fulfils its statutory and moral purpose.
“We call on every South African, from civil organisations and parliament itself, to demand transparent reform and lawful administration of the Fund. The law has spoken. Now the ministry must act. Justice for road-accident victims cannot wait another day.”
